Earth Hour: Spare an hour for Mother Earth

We may choose to do yoga or Pilates on a rooftop in the dark, reduce our carbon footprint by recycling or simply switch off for an hour from 8.30pm to 9.30pm today as the UAE joins hundreds of countries to mark Earth Hour 2014.

In Dubai, a crowd of environment-lovers will gather for a walk from 5pm to 10pm around the Bay Avenue Park in Business Bay with candles and lanterns to celebrate while major landmarks, including Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab, The Dubai Mall and many more around the country will switch to a power-saving mode.

Al Majaz Waterfront area before and after 8 30pm during Earth Hour in Sharjah on March 31, 2012 — KT file photos

While Dubai Airport has flipped the switch earlier than usual this year on March 6 to in the run-up to the day, the Roads and Transport Authority is urging residents to take the Metro to Business Bay and contribute by reducing the carbon footprint. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), while tweeting, has said “Glass takes over a million years to decompose. Make sure you send all your bottles for recycling.” It adds, “Set your AC to 24º C.”

Drumming in Capital

In Abu Dhabi, for the fourth consecutive year, Abu Dhabi Festival, in partnership with the Emirates Wildlife Society-World Wide Fund for Nature (EWS-WWF), celebrates with an evening of music. To keep matters eco-friendly, the music will be “unplugged”, in the form of six 30-minute drumming sessions during which everyone who comes along may learn and perform basic African drumming rhythms. The event, part of the festival’s education programme, will start at 7.30pm in Khalifa Park, Abu Dhabi.

What’s happening around

UAE ambassadors join Spiderman A number of influential and inspiring persons from the country have joined forces with the Emirates Wildlife Society in association with WWF (EWS-WWF) and Earth Hour superhero Spiderman, to become the UAE’s very own Earth Hour Ambassadors. The ambassadors have supported Earth Hour in the UAE by tweeting, appearing in videos, submitting bulb selfies as well as encouraging their circles to adopt sustainable practices. Vowing to go beyond the hour in their daily lives alongside Spiderman are Earth Hour UAE Ambassadors Shaikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Emirati adventuress Samia Al Mudhareb, Virgin Radio DJ Kris Fade, show jumper Abdulla Al Marri, Olympian Samira Al Bitar, youth ambassador George Zacharia and DJ Bliss. Ida Tillisch, Director-General of EWS-WWF, said: “It is wonderful to have the support of some very talented and passionate residents to help us further the sustainability message of Earth Hour on the need to switch to energy-efficient lighting.” Spiderman is the first superhero ambassador for Earth Hour, with a message to inspire individuals to use their power to become superheroes for the planet. This year, the hero of the highly anticipated motion picture The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and the film’s stars — Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx — and director Marc Webb are throwing their support behind Earth Hour.

The EWS-WWF is also encouraging everyone to change bulbs in homes to energy-efficient lighting which will also reduce the electricity bill.

The environmental NGO is asking the UAE community to use the social media and the ‘not-new’ phenomenon of ‘selfies’ to spread the message of sustainability using the hashtag #EarthHourSelfies.

One of several environmentally conscious corporate houses committed to environmental sustainability, Majid Al Futtaim shopping malls are participating in Earth Hour.

Ibrahim Al-Zu’bi, Head of Sustainability at Majid Al Futtaim Properties, said, “During the past three years, we have been able to reduce energy consumption in our shopping malls by more than eight per cent; 17 per cent in our hotels and 18 per cent in our offices. We have reduced the consumption of water in our malls by 19 per cent and 17 per cent in our hotels during the past three years.”

Lighting company Philips donated 1,500 energy-efficient bulbs to Earth Hour packs. As part of its support for the Make-the-Switch campaign, Dubai Properties Group (DPG) encouraged its employees and over 2,00,000 tenants across its residential complexes — at places such as Shurooq and Ghoroub, Mirdif, Layan and Al Khail Gate — to reduce power consumption and live responsibly.

Ski Dubai at Mall of the Emirates organised human billboards targeting young visitors during a snowboarding event to further promote the message of energy conservation and convey how small measures taken by people can help conserve animal life by safeguarding their habitats.

Six Carrefour hypermarkets also promoted the ‘Make-the-Switch’ campaign by distributing post-it notes about conservation and encouraging the public to participate in Earth Hour.

At the Abu Dhabi Corniche family park, there will be a yoga session during Earth Hour, followed by a guided meditation, from 8.30pm. Al Ain Zoo will also take part in Earth Hour with a treasure hunt game, creative projects and African drums, all from 2pm to 7.30pm.

The Dubai Astronomy Group will also run an event “Discover the Emirate’s Sky in Earth Hour.”

“Our perception of the night sky and its glory has been obscured by the ever increasing urban development and the artificial lights that dominate our night these days, making it increasingly difficult to view the beauty of the celestial night sky,” said the organisers.

news@khaleejtimes.com

What is Earth Hour?

Earth Hour is a worldwide movement for the planet organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Earth Hour engages a massive mainstream community on a broad range of environmental issues. It was famously started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia in 2007. Since then it has grown to engage more than 7,000 cities and towns worldwide, and the one-hour event continues to remain the key driver of the now larger movement.

Dubai was the first Arab city to participate in Earth Hour in 2009.

What we can do

If the entire country switches to energy-saving bulbs, energy consumption will be reduced by 340 to 500 megawatts (MW) per year, which is equivalent to not using an average gas power station for six months.

The 24 hours of power conservation will save the Dubai Airport an estimated 300,000KWH of energy which is equal to 129 tonnes of CO2 emissions, more than 23,729 gallons of gasoline, or the same as carbon sequestered by 5,427 tree seedlings grown for 10 years.

Given that 20 per cent of electricity consumed by households globally is used for lighting, by switching to energy-efficient options (including CFLs, LEDs and Halogen bulbs), the country can collectively help reduce its carbon emissions by 9,40,000 tonnes of CO2. That is equivalent to removing 165,000 cars off the road annually. This saves more than Dh660 million per year.

During Earth Hour 2013, Dewa achieved a reduction of 200,000KW of electricity and 120kg of carbon dioxide emissions.

The 9.5W LED bulb provides up to 85 per cent energy savings for the user that will last up to 15 years during normal use.

Over the past six years during Earth Hour, Dewa has saved 1,036MW in electricity consumption and 622 tonnes in carbon dioxide emissions.

Change we must and now, says Emirati teen ambassador

KT Report

Less than a week after returning from a life-changing voyage to Antarctica, Earth Hour’s newest ambassador, Samia Al Mudharreb, barely has time to let the experience sink in as preparations for today’s big switch have been going full steam.

The first teen to be selected to join environmentalist Robert Swan on the epic expedition, Al Mudharreb says the experience is hard to put into words.

“It was beyond anything I could have imagined. We got to see the effects of global warming right in front of our eyes… icebergs falling and crashing into the sea. I have come back a different person.”

Samia Al Mudhareb and explorer Robert Swan with the Earth Hour poster at the South Pole. — Supplied photo

The ambitious 17-year-old admits things have been “non-stop” since landing back in Dubai and she has been in fast-forward mode preparing a variety of stills and videography from her voyage for a talk she will be giving ahead of the Earth Hour Walk, which is taking place at Bay Avenue Park at 8.30 tonight.

Part of the group leading the walk, Al Mudharreb was head hunted as ambassador of Earth Hour by the organising committee of the Emirates Wildlife Society-World Wildlife Fund (EWS-WWF), after it caught wind that she was to be the first Emirati teen to travel to the Antarctic Peninsula, where temperatures can reach an icy -46°C.

And she says it was an honour to be chosen.

“This is part of my life now. Earth Hour is not just about the one hour, this is just the start. If you look at the logo, it has a plus next to the 60. This means you go beyond it, so this is just the initiation process to encourage people to do more.”

By collectively making the switch, and turning off all house lights between 8.30pm and 9.30pm tonight, CO2 emissions in the country can be reduced by 940,000 tonnes per year, an achievement well worth taking note of, according to Al Mudharreb.

“If so much can be achieved in just one hour, can you imagine the change we could see if people proactively make a change in their everyday lives? It’s not much to ask, just flip the switch.”

She says it is important for parents to instil the environmental awareness message in their children, but it is just as vital that they take action themselves too, as it is not just the younger generations who need to change.

“God gave us this planet and its wonderful nature and we should be protecting it, but we are doing exactly the opposite. Going green is only following what we were meant to do. Change needs to happen now, not tomorrow.”

Communicating the message of Earth Hour in the UAE since 2008, Al Mudharreb took the EWS-WWF message as far as the South Pole and used the opportunity to snap a photo with polar explorer Swan holding the Earth Hour logo — a picture which landed Al Mudharreb the WWF title of most impressive Earth Hour ambassador story.

So, why not go above and beyond for the sake of your planet and make a change by switching off between 8.30 and 9.30 tonight.

news@khaleejtimes.com